Edu ruled out of Costa Rica qualifier

Maurice Edu has been ruled out of Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica in Saprissa Stadium.

The defensive midfielder was scheduled to travel to Miami on Sunday, but will remain in Glasgow to have his knee further evaluated. Edu, whose future in the Confederations Cup is also in jeopardy, picked up the knee injury in Rangers' league final against Dundee United on May 24. No word yet on if a replacement will be called to fill in for Edu's spot on the roster.

Torres, Torres, Torres, Torres,=Poise No other US midfielder has this quality! He is the clear choice even if he is tired from beating Pumas today:) Edu is too defensive and guilty of stupid passes all the time. I’d rather pair Pablo M. with Bradley than Edu/Bradley or Benny/Bradley…Torres is of a different class than Benny, Kljestan, or Edu. If Torres and Bradley are healthy, that is our midfield for the next games. I hope Edu keeps developing his game, but for now Torres is the guy. Hopefully Bradley will watch him score today for Pachuca!

totally agree, this opens to the door for torres not feilhaber. His distribution is flawless and his calm on the ball and ability to maintain possesion is something the US sorely needs especially in a hostile environment like Saprissa. Having said that im almost positive Mastroeni will start as bradley is too conservative to give torres a go for the full 90.

Pablo will start. I’m not sure Bradley would have started Edu anyway. I think he feels more comfortable with Pablo. Bradley doesn’t shake it up much. He has his go to guys. Pablo has the experience to handle the hostile environment.

Pablo will most likely start, but honestly, I’m ready to see Torres play a bigger role, and Feilhaber to get back to the form he showed in his early stages. He’s talented and very capable of playing in this midfield.

sonicdeathmonkey: Just cause you said it before and will say it again doesn’t make it, you know, true. Pablo’s not a lot of fun to watch but he’s a rock in midfield, an Essien type player. Outside of that goofy red against Italy I’ve got nothing to fault him for.

Its gotta be Torres… He is very similar to Claudio Reyna in how he plays, extremely solid on the ball, and a better although he doesn’t cover as much ground as Bradley or Edu, he’s a better tackler than both

If i were a bettin’ man, i’d put my money on Pablo to start with Torres to sub in. This seems pretty obvious to me….

I’d LIKE to see a Torres-Bradley pairing, but, hey, we have plenty of games to do that. I’m usually more inclined to get these younger guys in there, but this is an important game to win and Mastroeni should be the most sure thing to get it done.

Yes I think Edu would have started and I would have loved to see him paired with Bradley. However, now that he’s out I think Torres will get the benefit. I think most US fans are in agreement that Torres is RIGHT NOW the #2 option at central mid behind Bradley. The injury to Edu may be the open door Torres needs to continue to show why he should be in the starting XI. Go US!

How does he NOT at this point? He’s been the most consistent performer in Qualifying and has been a beast for MGB, helping them out of relegation. I don’t know if you noticed that brace he scored against Mexico, you know, our next-door rivals.

Torres has more of a future then any of the alternates but since BB lives for the moment, it will be Pablo. Mark my words, he’ll do something stupid that will hurt us(red card, penalty in a dangerous position, maybe even a PK?. He usually does.

As others have said, why is it assumed that MB gets the start? He’s no better then the others but he’s been shoved down our throats so many times that he’s become a given. We’ll see how that goes when daddy gets the sack

@ omgwtflo — no he’s not. Torres is a central midfielder. Just because he’s left footed doesn’t mean he’s a winger. He’s no more a winger than Adu is.

I’d put money on Pablo to start in Saprissa, with Klestjan coming in if we need an offensive (?) sub. Then in Chicago, Torres may get a start with Feilhaber a possible sub — which is fine since Benny played 90 yesterday and Torres plays tonight.

I would’ve liked to see Mo play on Wednesday, but Pablo isn’t a bad fall back IMO.

I absolutely think Bradley’s name should be written in at this point, and it would take huge years by a couple players to oust him.

As for the other starting spot, I somewhat agree with the others that it would be fun to see what Torres could do with a full ninety. But we have to remember that the U.S. has never earned a point at the Saprissa, every time we go we lose. It wouldn’t be a travesty to see Pablo get the call, there are issues at both fullback spots so a battle tested sure tackler could be useful in this game. I can wait until the Honduras game to see Torres get a chance to start.

I think Torres proved in El Salvador that he’s as safe, sturdy, and creative in the center mid postion as anyone. That coupled with the fact that we know he can handle hostile Central American crowds should make him a lock for at least a super-sub role. I want to see him play, but I agree that Pablo is much safer to start. If we can get MB to push farther forward, that only means more goals for the kid, and Torres just isn’t as much a defensive midfielder as Pablo is.

I think Edu would have been considered for a sub role. He has a tendency, especially being fresh out of playing in the SPL, to be a little to physical for CONCACAF refs. If I was Big Bob, I think I would want to gauge how the ref was calling the game before deciding wether or not to bring him on.

It’s tough to choose between Pablo and Jose. Pablo is known for winning fifty/fifties, clogging the center by stifling attacks, making the composed simple pass, and bringing a veteran presence to the field. But he’s also known for bookings and isn’t exactly an offensive mastermind, other than his thunderous shot. Mastroeni is known for doing the important defensive stuff, like the ones mentioned before. What makes him special is that he can do it against the best of teams, and has played against a wide variety of attacks; from South Korea, to Italy.

Torres is a guy who walked in to an away match in central america with the U.S. down two goals with the main expectation from Bob Bradley being he take pressure off the defence by helping the Americans keep possession. Not only did he keep possession and take pressure of the defence, but he helped put pressure on El Salvador’s defence with some creative passing, great ball skill, and sweet touch. Combine that with the pressure that Jozy Altidore, another sub, put on El Salvador’s defence, and that did two things: First, it forced El Salvador to keep the Wingbacks like Pacheco back and made their midfield drop back more than they had the whole match; Second, with El Salvador’s midfield lowering the pressure on the U.S. defence, it opened the path ways for wingbacks Hejduk and Beasley to get forward, which caused the first goal.

I still have no idea who should start in central midfield but if Altidore’s toe is still hurt this may be what we could see:

sucks that he won’t be playing!!! i think it will either be Pablo or Torres. And I imagine Pablo will get the nod knowing Bob.

Isaac – i think you right in that Bob will use that formation. i would like to think he wouldn’t use Beasley since he hasn’t played in a long time. I feel like Spector and Wynne would start instead. Hejduk is still injured as far as I know. If he isn’t, then yes, he and Spector will be our outside backs. As for the midfield, i think if Beasley is benched then Torres and Bradley would be switched from where you have them right now. Bradley is much more effective in the middle it seems.

I’d honestly love to see Bradley play on right just once for the USA. We play Dempsey on the right but the problem is that if he commits to defense he’s to slow to get back up the flanks and attack. But if he tries to attack he’ll leave whoever happens to be playing on the right flank alone. Bradley has the pace, work rate, defensive abilities and offensive intensity to be a great two-way player. Besides, Dempsey’s goal-scoring moments have always come when he switches with Landon during the run of play and plays as an attacking midfielder/Second, center forward. If that remains true then we should do play like this:

————–Altidore—-Ching————

———————Donovan——–Dempsey

————-Mastroeni—-Bradley———-

Beasley—–Bocanegra—–Onyewu—–Hejduk

———————Howard—————-

or…

—————Altidore—-Ching———–

Donovan————Dempsey—————–

———Mastroeni——–Bradley———-

Beasley—-Bocanegra——-Onyewu—-Hejduk

———————Howard—————-

With these formations we’re able to allow Beasley and Hejduk get into the attack. The only way it works is if Landon and Clint dictate the midfield and take turns playing behind Jozy and Brian, something they had no trouble doing before. We saw something like this against Trinidad and Tobago, the best example being when Donovan crossed it to Beasley who nodded it down. In short, Beasley and Hejduk are, as Ives put it, “maruading wingbacks”, which I find very dangerous.